


Soil and Sea

by Shadowcat221b



Category: Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1930s, Alternate Universe - Historical, Angst, Denial of Feelings, Eventual Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Racism, Period-Typical Sexism, oh so much angst, ot3 endgame, trigger warning for:
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-12 01:35:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5648935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat221b/pseuds/Shadowcat221b
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eliot Spencer´s life changes when his wife Parker finds a black man sleeping in the barn of his farm.<br/>Alec Hardison is on the run from the authorities two counties over, for a crime he may or may not have committed.<br/>Parker never really understood why people treated people differently based on what color their skin was or what gender they were.<br/>One day, their lives change. For quite some time they can´t say if it was for better or worse. One day they can.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The stray

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sophoklesworld](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophoklesworld/gifts).



> Originally this was called 'procrastinating because I have to write a long ass essay for school and don´t want to'.  
> This idea was stuck in my head since I watched season 4 episode 4 "The Van Gogh Job".  
> For everyone reading my fic Time^3 and waiting on an update, don´t worry. I haven´t forgotten about it.  
> I don´t know alot about the mindsets of different US states in the 1930 and all my knowledge about racism back then comes from books. I don´t mean to offend anyone with this.  
> Now without further ado:  
> Enjoy.  
> Love,  
> the shadowcat

August 1939

The second Hardison opened his eyes, he knew he had slept too long.

The sun was shining bright through the open door of the barn, golden and warm. It barely reached him where he was tucked away in the stacks of straw, but its meaning was still the same.

He had slept too long. There was no way he would get away now.

Beside him was a small rustling sound and as he turned his head he was almost nose to nose with a woman eating an apple and staring curiously at him.

Hardison almost yelped as he scrambled backwards, away from the woman whoms scrutinizing eyes followed his every move.

»You can go back to sleep, you know?«, she said, voice cheerful. Then she bit into the apple. »You look like you could need it«, she concluded, chewing.

Hardison just stared at her, eyes wide and breaths coming hard and fast.

How long had she been there? The police must already be on their way. They would catch him. They would kill him. His only choice was to run. Maybe they would shoot him if he ran. It would still beat facing the rope. The only thing was that he couldn´t move.

It was like the woman had him pinned in place with her unrelenting gaze.

It wasn´t hostile but... He quickly took in the dress she was wearing, her face, the bright eyes, the blond hair and the smile curving her lips.

Maybe he could just push her away and she would be too startled to- His thought was cut off as she reached out her hand.

»I´m Parker.«

Hardison didn´t know how to react. He looked at the outstreched hand, offered as if he were supposed to shake it, then back at her face, where the smile was faltering, a frown replacing it.

»You are weird, a little bit«, she cocked her head at him.

This time it was a shout from outside the barn that had Hardison turn his head.

»Parker?«, the voice was gruff and booming. »Come on, where are you?« And the voice was coming closer.

Hardison panicked. Parker just waved her hand. »Don´t worry, that´s just my husband.«

Those words did not help Hardison calm down in the slightest, since it were similar words that had gotten him into this mess in the first place. He quickly scrambled to his feet. He did not get any further though.

A sillouette appeared in the door frame, the sun in it´s back illuminating long brown hair and accentuating the broad build of the man.

Hardison could swear his heart stopped right then.

Parker was already half running half jumping towards the man, chirping »Eliot«, before turning round, pointing at Hardison.

»I found him sleeping here. Can he stay?«

 

Eliot looked at the tall man standing in his barn.

He was scared shitless, Eliot could see that. He looked as if he was the prey and Eliot was the killer.

He was also undeniably a negro. Eliot squinted at him, flashes of the past running through his mind.

A small child, as dark as the soil beneath them, looking up at him with the very same expression the man was wearing.

The same expression of fear. Terror.

Because of him.

And same as back then he was not going to let it stick there.

He turned his head slightly towards his wife that was standing between them now and answered her question. »Sure thing, Darling.«

 

Hardison followed them outside after Eliot had turned to him, asking: »You coming?«

He was getting ready to bolt any second, but Parker stayed at his side, babbling about how she didn´t like most plants because they didn´t do anything.

Right before they reached the porch of the main house she boxed his arm, hard.

»Are you even listening to me?«

Hardison almost jumped out of his skin at that.

»Don´t worry, she is always like that«, came the growley remark from Eliot who hadn´t even turned to see what happened. He just stepped onto the porch and opened the front door.

»Come«, was all he said.

Hardison stood there, shocked and frozen. When he opened his mouth he tried to make his voice as steady as possible. Of course it did not work out.

»Sir, I-«, he stuttered. »Sir, no disrespect, Sir, but if you have me go into the house just so you can have me arrested, I am sorry, Sir, but I have to pass.«

Now Eliot turned around. »What?«

»Well, you could easily have me arrested for being on a white man´s property and before that happens I would rather decline your invitation.   Sir«, Hardison elaborated, knowing he was just digging his grave a little deeper.

»Sorry, won´t have that. Parker, get him in. And stop calling me Sir«, was the grumbled response. Without another look back Eliot went into the house.

Parker pushed Hardison onto the porch, practically manhandling him inside.

Jeez, that woman was strong.

 

 

Parker pushed the man down at the table to sit down. He reluctantly did.

Eliot pushed a plate with some bread and vegetables across to him, before folding his hands on the table.

»So, what are you doing trespassing on my property?«, he asked, eyes fixed on the strangers face.

»I am sorry, Sir«, was everything he got in return.

»That´s not what I am asking«, Eliot inquired, tone turning a bit more threatening.

»I am sorry, Sir, but I don´t think I can tell you«, he said, his eyes cast down, voice steady.

»Ok, then don´t«, Eliot growled. »What about your name? Can you tell me that?«

»Hardison, Sir.«

 

Eliot looked at him, eyes narrowing. »That your first or last name?«

»The only one I got, Sir«, he answered.

Eliot looked at him as if he knew that Hardison was lying, but then just leaned back in his chair, folding his arms and cocking his head to one side. »I told you not to call me that«, was all that he said though. »You know your way around on a farm?«

»I guess. I am a fast learner«, he responded.

»Good. Eat, then Parker will show you around, let´s see how you do in a week«, Eliot stated, pointed at the plate and left the table.

Hardison sat there, staring at the food,trying to make sense of what had happened.

He was ripped out of his thoughts by Parker plopping down on the table beside his plate, now wearing a shirt and some pants.

This only added to Hardison´s confusion.

»C´mon, eat your breakfast and then I´ll show you around«, she quipped.

 

Eliot closed the back door of the house and leaned against it, facing his small vegetable garden in the back yard. The man reminded him so much of Alec that he wouldn´t be surprised if it was his- his what? Friend? Love? What?

Hardison was a new variable in his life that he didn´t know how to deal with. He already hated himself for even offering him a job. On the other side, even if it wasn´t Alec he would be damned for sending someone away just because of their skin color. Alec would have told him he had done the right thing.  
Jesus, he was in so much trouble.

And then Parker. He couldn´t deny Parker anything. He love her, just like he had loved Alec. He would grumble and growl and bitch but he would try to give her the world on a silver platter if she asked him to. Luckily she had never asked for that. She hadn´t even asked him if she could wear pants. One day she just wore them and he let her.

Alec had taught him that society was wrong about a lot of things. So here on his small farm in the middle of nowwhere he had created his own small version of how he wanted the world to be. Sheriff Ford simply ignored the fact that Parker wore pants when he visited, mostly because Eliot helped him sometimes. So he was safe. For now.

Of course letting someone new in was a risk.

But it was a risk he was willing to take.

With that thought he went to take a look at his tomatoes.


	2. The past is the future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well then, enjoy ;) I know that Archie Leach was more an adoptive father to Parker, but I wanted to have Sterling i this and well... Just... Read ;)

Eliot turned of the light and pulled the blanket around himself. A second later he had Parker lying on his chest, eyeing him in the half dark of their bedroom.

»Sooooo«, she said, smirking a little. »What do you think of Hardison?«

»Parker«, he breathed in, causing her to rise with his chest. »I don´t know him. Give me a few days, ok? I´ll tell you then.« The entire topic made him twitchy, so he wanted to get it over with fast.

 »Alright«, Parker quipped, wiggling a little. »I like him. He is funny. And he does learn fast.« She flopped back down to the bed, now looking at the ceiling. As she spoke again her voice was not as cheerful as before, a more serious note in it. »Thank you for giving him a chance, Eliot.« Eliot did not respond, but Parker didn´t need to hear him say anything in response. She knew her husband well enough by now.

Eliot never talked much. He only told you what you needed to know and Parker was totally fine with that. She had met Eliot when he had made business with her father, James Sterling. Adopted father. Her real father lay somewhere in an unmarked grave in Germany. He had been shipped off to fight in the war before Parker could even speak. She had liked Eliot from the start, mostly because he was not like the other men that had tried to court her. He hadn´t brought her tons of flowers and written her poems about her hair. He hadn´t tried to bribe her father for her hand. He had talked to her. He had not talked to her about her but with her about what she liked. He had treated her as an equal, like her opinions mattered to him, listened to her and when he had asked for her hand Sterling had begrudginly given it to him. Mostly because Mister Spencer was an important trading partner for Sterling. Eliot had traveled a lot with her, always between his parents estate and the nearest harbor, controlling shipments and making deals.  
Parker had been elated when Eliot had told her he wanted to move away from his parents, away from the family business and start his own little farm. It would be an adventure Parker had thought. The fight with his parents that had followed that announcement had not been pretty and Parker, who had no clue how, had to pick up the pieces. Now here they were, eight years later, and Parker was happy. Hardison was a bonus. She smiled as she went to sleep.

 

Across the yard, in his own little room that Parker had showed him Alec lay wide awake, despite every single muscle in his body aching. He did not know how, but Parker had incredible strength and because he did not want to risk this chance by coming off as not working hard enough he had pushed himself until he almost fainted. He felt like he could sleep for eternity now, but his mind wouldn´t let him. He knew that the man, the one who currently held his life in his hands, was Eliot. His Eliot.  
But what he didn´t know was if Eliot knew it was him. He wondered if Eliot had recognized him or not and if he had, why he hadn´t said anything.

It had taken Alec a little to be sure, but now he could not unsee it. It was Eliot. The eyes were the same blue, even though they had more crinkles around them. His hair was longer, yet still the same golden brown color. He still radiated calm and he still was as kind as back then. And he was still as closed off as he had been when they had parted.

When Alec was four he had been playing with some of the other black kids he knew. And soon he found himself alone in a field, the plants almost as tall as him. He was lost and scared and suddenly there was a tall figure looming over him. A boy, a lot older then him, twice his age as he later found out. His skin was light and Alec had heard the stories.

So when the other boy crouched down Alec almost made a run for it. But when the boy began to speak he did not hear words of hate. Eliot had asked him if he was alright, if he could help him. Eliot had told Alec how to get back to his friends. Alec had just nodded his thanks and run back to his Nana. A few weeks later he returned to the field. Eliot was not there. Alec still went back to the field every now and then and one day, one day Eliot was there.

It had taken months, but an unlikely friendship blossomed between them.

Alec stopped there, not wanting to remember further, not wanting to remember all that had hurt. He just lay awake, wondering why Eliot had not recognized him. Because if he had he would have said something, Alec was sure.  
He briefly considered telling Eliot, but then he thought, if Eliot had forgotten him, he should let it be that way. Who knew how Eliot had changed in the time they hadn´t seen each other. Who knew what man Eliot was now.

 

Eliot was lying in bed with his wife, dreaming of brown eyes, bright with happiness. He dreamed of dark lips curled in a mischievous smile. He did not sleep well that night, waking up and not being able to go back to sleep again. He looked over to Parker who was half way hanging out of the bed.

Alec had been the love of his past. Parker was his present and hopefully his future.

This thought did not ease his mind, but at least it calmed it enough for him to sleep till the first light of morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the two awesome people that commented.  
> R&R is welcomed, loved and makes me smile ;)  
> Love,  
> the shadowcat


	3. One step

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy ;) things are getting more complicated... Un-beta´d as per usual.  
> Love,  
> the shadowcat

_A few weeks later_

Hardison fit well with their little farm life. He was pulling his weight and helped them a lot. After his trial period of a week he sometimes ate dinner with Parker and Eliot. That was practically the only time he saw Eliot and the conversation between them was polite but always a little distant. Parker was endearing. They clicked early, she sometimes helped him with his chores and more often then not told him short stories of her life that always left him in awe. he started to think that they might even be friends.

Hardison was happy.

 

He was just done digging through the dirt surrounding the small flower bed beside the wheat field when he heard Parker yell his name. He looked over to where she was running towards him. She took a leap and within the blink of an eye Hardison had an arm full of Parker hanging off his side.

»Dance with me Hardsion?«, she chirped, already climbing off him, taking his hands.

»Uh... Sure«, Hardison replied as Parker was already tugging him to the open space between the flower bed and the barn. He laughed as she twirled around him, carefree and almost childlike.

»So what kind of dance would you prefer?«, he asked pulling her a little closer. »Every dance at once«, she smirked. »Well then«, Hardison sighed and started humming a tune and moving along.

 

Eliot returned from fixing the fence on the west side, leaving his tools in the toolshed behind the barn. He heard laughter from the court and rounded the corner to see who it was.  
His heart stopped as he saw Parker and Hardison, dancing. The sun was lighting up Parker´s blond hair but it could not match the smile on Hardison´s face. It was then, right that moment that Eliot felt that he loved them both differently, yet equally. He loved them both, the way they were together. He would do everything to make them happy and loving them both and more importantly acting on that love would endanger them. He could not do that. So he just stood there, watching for a moment as he tried to bury those feelings again.

 

Hardison´s face fell the second he saw Eliot standing there, the sun in his back. He lowered his eyes and let go of Parker. This was it. The impassive, set in stone expression on Eliot´s face had said it all. In just a few seconds his world would crumble down and he would be left with picking up the pieces. Except it didn´t happen. Eliot surprised him again as the man just turned away and went to the house, emotionlessly declaring that "Dinner is at 7".

Hardison was not going to let this ruin what he had found. He would work harder. He could maybe convince Eliot that he was worth it.

 

* * *

 

 

Hardison heard someone step in behind him into the barn. The person tread lightly like Parker but from the pattern it could only be Eliot. So Hardison put more strength into his pulls, ignoring the pain flaring up in his wrist.

He could feel Eliot´s presence right behind him, his breath on his neck, his arms coming around.

He squeezed his eyes shut, just for a moment, to gather his strength, to be able to make it through what was to come. He barely suppressed a shiver when Eliot´s fingers curled over his, gently prying them off the tool.

»Alec, stop.«

That was Eliot´s voice, right behind him, soft and quiet.

»You weren´t at dinner. You´re hurting yourself.«

Hardison took a shuddering breath before speaking, his voice steady but just as soft as Eliot´s.

»I thought you didn´t remember me.«

His words were met with silence. He could feel Eliot´s body right behind his. Every place they weren´t touching. The heat radiating off his skin. He cast his eyes down and could see Eliot´s calloused fingers hovering over his, the tan skin on his arms in stark contrast with his own.

He felt like four again, stumbling across an older boy in a field, not knowing wether that boy would hurt him. He felt like he was fourteen again, sneaking into the woods at night, risking everything just to talk to Eliot. He felt like sixteen again, when Eliot had looked at him as if it broke his heart. When he would reach out to touch him and Eliot would move away, with that expression in his eyes that whatever twisted thing it was between them, once he would touch Alec he wouldn´t be able to stop.

»Alec, I knew it was you the second I saw you again. You may have gotten older but you still look like you did when you were four when you´re scared.«

There was another pause, the two of them just breathing together, as Alec tried to will back his tears.

»Now let me take a look at your hand«, Eliot said, withdrawing and gently turning Alec around with a push to his shoulder.

When Alec was facing him, though eyes still cast down, he took his hand in his own, palm facing up. Eliot carefully poked at the wrist, not missing the minute flinch by Alec.

»You sprained it«, Eliot told him matter of factly, He took off the cloth he had wrapped around his own wrist, tying it around Alec´s injured one. »This is so you don´t move it too much, I don´t want you to hurt unnecessarily.«

That was when Alec lifted his eyes off the ground, where they had been fixed on their shoes. Instead he dared to look Eliot square in the eye, unsure of what he would find.

What he saw was that Eliot was just as scared as him. Just as nervous.

Eliot looked up from where his thumb was absentmindedly stroking the cloth on Alec´s hurt wrist.

»Why-«, was all Alec could say before Eliot cut him off.

»Don´t say it. Or do you have a death wish?«, he growled, his jaw setting in a tense line.

»I don´t, it´s just...«, Alec responded, not sure where to go from here.

»Damnit Hardison!«

Eliot grabbed on to Alec´s shirt, steering him backwards, to the darker part of the barn.

There he pushed Alec up against a pole, both only illuminated by the few streaks of last light of day that came through the cracks.

»You listen to me Alec Hardison. My job has always been to keep you safe. Now I haven´t done that in a long time but if you think that I will give anyone a reason to kill you because of me then you are an incredibly blind fool!«

Alec had grown up with Eliot. And he had never seen him fall to pieces so quickly. On instinct Alec reached out with his good hand to stroke back a few strands of hair that had fallen into Eliot´s face. Too late he realized that it might have been the wrong move. His hand froze mid air, hovering between them.

»Don´t, Alec. Please.« Eliot sounded broken. He turned on his heel, fleeing from the barn and left Alec drowning in the whirlwind of his own emotions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> R&R is appreciated, thank you for all the feedback I already got.  
> Love you all,  
> the shadowcat

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, R&R is appreciated ;)  
> Love,  
> the shadowcat


End file.
